A Swimming Centennial

Students, current and former faculty members, and alumni alike recently gathered at the Hunting Valley Campus to celebrate 100 years of swimming and diving at University School.

Among those honored at Saturday's event were the current and former coaches representing 62 years of US swimming coaching. Brian Perry '89, US swimming captain and MVP, took over the team in 2001 and is the current coach. Ron Grant, former Cleveland Heights and Miami University star swimmer and captain, assumed leadership in 1970 and coached until 2000. Don Molten became head coach in 1949 and led the swimmers for the next 20 years.

The US founders had the foresight to include a swimming-bath in the original school built at Hough and 71st Avenue in 1890. The pool wasn't completed until 1894, when it was used mostly by football and tennis players as a place to cool off after practices. In 1898, swimming classes were held and intramural swimming and diving contests were initiated. The diving boards were made in the school woodshop.

It was not until 1911, when Amasa Stone Mather '03 donated a cup to be awarded to the winner of an all-city scholastic meet, that US produced its first official swim team. They entered this meet with eight other schools and won easily. They repeated as champs in 1912 and have been a swimming power in Northeast Ohio ever since.

Just who coached those early teams remains a mystery, but Gustav Lemke took over in 1917 and coached until 1920. After three interim coaches, Harry Munson became the coach in 1925 and remained so for the next 17 years. Clayton Beaver took over in 1945, coaching through 1948.

(Portions of this text were excerpted from We Are U.S.!, copyright 1990 by University School.)